Going it alone....

Ok, so I've got plans for a few mods to the disco and when it's ready I want to get out there a bit more and do a few pay and plays.

I've done a few tame green lanes near where I live and not had any problems when out alone.

But the plan is for the mrs and I to head out to Wales and do a bit of exploring. I've got a few routes from magazines with decent guides. Some of them look easy enough if the weather is good.

But I wonder if you guys have any advice for going out alone?

Obviously, common sense must always prevail - ie. if in doubt, don't. I guess it's down to self discipline and making good judgements about the conditions.

Plans are to guard the underside to the max, get a winch, ropes, strops, waffle boards, spade etc.

I know the risks are greater - and whatever kit I have, nothing will get me home if I have a mechanical failure, but what can I do to reduce the chance of damaging the car beyond mobility, and getting stuck?

any thoughts?

stay at home.

I like your sense of adventure, I wouldn't do it myself the thought of the stress of getting stuck or busting it outweighs the enjoyment. I'd go for winches back and front along with at least one Tirfor, a toolkit large enough for a complete roadside rebuild and enough spares to put Paddocks to shame. I'd also go to pay and play days but not to drive around, deliberately get stuck and get yourself out rather than get help. Practice hill starts in reverse and all that sort of stuff mebee even pay for offroad tuition!

dont be a prick and go to Wales alone

ive done alot of lanes in Wales and trust me, it may look tame but some of them ruts are big enough to ground you out on several times over. some of the fords along strata florida are massive. some of the decents and steep drops along with traversing slopes are pretty serious.

have you much exp. offroad?

do you have a roll cage?

the problem with welsh laning is that most of the lanes are over 4miles long.

you could always pick the easier gentler lanes... but then whats the point? you have them in England

get a buddy involved or join a club.

you need atleast 1 other landrover.

G

thanks for your replies.

There are two sides to my interest. One is to go offroad proper and have a play and a challenge, the second is to go places and explore the scenary, get some decent photos and have a pleasant day out or two - with less emphasis on low-ranging my way up mountains.

Obviously, I wouldn't do the first on my own. I don't have much experience off road at the moment - just the tame green lanes around here - bit of mud to get stuck in every now and again.
Once the disco is prepped I will go to some pay and play days and learn a bit more, and how to winch etc. And as suggested - perhaps get proper tuition too.

I'm happy to pick the easier lanes for now - just the sense of "getting out there" will satisfy my need at the moment. I will then make more dramatic mods as my interest grows. There was one in LRW a few months back which led to Tywyn on the coast which I'd love to do and they didn't consider too tricky.

I think there are some off-road holidays you can do in Wales. Turn up for a week in your landy - practice in a quarry and then get taken out on routes. That might be a wiser option I guess - anyone done anything like that?

Live in wales and have about the right kind if kit you have

I go alone a lot but keep close to home always check with a "mate" weather they are willing to come out and rescue me.

I agree with griffdowg on this, welsh lanes are often long, remote to say the least, its not all about getting stuck, say if you had a mechancial failure how do you get off the hillside. Farmers are not that willing to come out and rescue you in the middle of the night and if they did expect a charge. breakdown and expect a long walk nearly always no mobile signal.

Cam belts snap, transfer boxes explode, diffs break, half shafts snap, on the lane you mentioned i lost 2 tyres in quick succesion due to very sharp rocks exposed by very dry weather, all these things have happened to others whilst laning with them, we got home because of group support.

yes you could breakdown on the road, but you often have the support services to hand, do to the nature of the lanes they tend to push the vechicle to the limit.

The other thing i notice often these breakdowns seem to occur at around 5 pm on a sunday evening when everyones tired and looking forward to home then the "fun" starts. I know plenty of laners put off by getting into problems alone and it was the time spent sorting it out which taught them a lession the hard way.

which part of wales are you planning on going, there is a good crowd of laners go out in north wales most sundays,varying the lanes of course but, as already been said, a lot of the welsh lanes are not for the faint hearted, there are some good lanes in mid wales too, not sure about the south tho

yella disco said:

which part of wales are you planning on going, there is a good crowd of laners go out in north wales most sundays,varying the lanes of course but, as already been said, a lot of the welsh lanes are not for the faint hearted, there are some good lanes in mid wales too, not sure about the south tho

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just stay away from the border as they now have some tarmaced roads around there. the rest of wales should be ok fer you

yella disco said:

which part of wales are you planning on going, there is a good crowd of laners go out in north wales most sundays,varying the lanes of course but, as already been said, a lot of the welsh lanes are not for the faint hearted, there are some good lanes in mid wales too, not sure about the south tho

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well, we would probably take a holiday in Mid Wales for a week or so and get some green laning in. Perhaps it would just take some planning and coordinating with other things going on.
And I might check out some of these off road centres that are around there that do proper guided trips. I've been told of them, but don't know of any.

even if I stick to the easy stuff, I guess a mechanical/electrical failure which I can't fix could really screw me up.

there are only 2 things in this world that you should do alone

1) ****ing
2) shoplifting

and playing solitaire

and being on landyzone... "brokenlegs" cant stand it. she did find slobs band tre funny though. hahahahahaha... ****s